Jon Snow arrives at Dragonstone from Winterfell in less than an episode, for instance, while Euron Greyjoy goes from King’s Landing to somewhere between Dragonstone and Sandstone, back to King’s Landing and then to Casterly Rock in three episodes. In the past, such moves would’ve taken all season, thanks to traveling on horseback or by boat. Nowadays, it’s like the characters invented the Hyperloop off-screen, which would’ve helped Daenerys instead of waiting six seasons to get her to Westeros.

This new breakneck speed has characters teleporting all over the Westerosi map in a move by showrunners, D.B. Weiss and David Benioff to get to the final, important plot threads.

“Things are moving faster because in the world of these characters the war that they’ve been waiting for is upon them,” Weiss explained in an Entertainment Weekly interview. “The conflicts that have been building the past six years are upon them and those facts give them a sense of urgency that makes [the characters] move faster.”

While it makes sense practically, the transition has only served as a distraction for longtime viewers — drawing attention to the pacing and the movement of time when they should be focusing on narrative and character.

It also breaks away from George R.R. Martin’s novels. The show diverges from the source material at a certain point in all respects, but tweaking with how the story plays with time and distance only shows that the showrunners and HBO are missing a key theme and a deliberate move by Martin to build tension.

The “Song of Ice and Fire” books are almost too long thanks in part to how much time Martin puts into traveling. Readers won’t read passages about the intricacies of travel — how to pitch a camp or how to get food, for example — but a lot of the events of the first three novels revolve around transit. The fact that it takes forever for characters to get from one city to another is the device used to instigate events.

How the act of movement affects the characters can be clearly seen with Arya Stark, who spends most of her time throughout these books getting from one place to another. The first book, “Game of Thrones” has her going from Winterfell to King’s Landing. After her father’s death, she gets caught up in a series of unfortunate distractions, whether it’s being captured at Harrenhal (while on the way to the Night’s Watch) or being taken hostage by the Hound.

She eventually gains her freedom and travels to Braavos, where she apprentices with the Faceless Men. It’s around this time when the books and the show diverge. The books end with Arya losing her eyesight, which viewers will remember occurs at the end of Season 5. Season 6 then is about Arya gaining her sight back and going through another separate moral crisis.

That’s when the pacing starkly (pun intended) changes. Remember how it took Arya essentially four seasons to get to Braavos? Sometime in between the eighth episode of Season 6 and the finale (episode 10), she manages to get from the island to the Twins. She would’ve had to cross the Narrow Sea — the body of water that runs in between Westeros and Essos — and then cross the bulk of Westeros to even get to the Frey stronghold. This is a long journey, yet she’s able to do it in less than three episodes. She also has time to kill and cook each of Walder Frey’s sons into a pie.

This change of pace has only become more clear in Season 7, as the showrunners work to close all open story threads. In Season 6, the sudden location jumps were different, but because the plots didn’t revolve around one character having to meet with another or a group going off to war, it didn’t matter as much. Season 7, over the first three episodes at the time of this writing, has consisted primarily of characters practically teleporting to other locations that are hundreds of miles away.

Normally this wouldn’t be much of a problem. There is limited time left in “Game of Thrones” to be worrying about what a character like Jon Snow is doing on the way to Dragonstone or if he encounters any conflicts. However, when the pace of a show is consistent for five seasons and then immediately becomes the opposite, the change is distracting.

And while the show is its own entirely separate work, the change in pacing is also a dramatic departure from the source material, which frequently emphasizes long, difficult (and often boring) travel, during which you’re all but cut off from channels of communication, as an inconvenient fact of life in Westeros. That distance keeps characters utterly out of the loop at critical times, a frequent source of dramatic irony and tension.

That aspect paid off well in the TV series. In Season 3, for example, as we see Arya slowly make her way to the Twins, we’re also witnessing what will eventually become the Red Wedding. The parallel journeys and how they intersect makes Arya’s timing and observance of her brother and mother’s deaths only made the scene more heartbreaking. This is even more apparent in the books, as Arya only learns about the event in bits and pieces over the next few chapters.

However, none of this is more apparent than with the core conflict of the show — the fight against the White Walkers. Jon and the rest of the Night’s Watch know about the impending undead doom and have been slowly trying to solve the incoming apocalypse while the rest of Westeros is engaged in war. This distance allows scenes like the one in Season 7 episode 3 where Jon tries to convince Daenerys of the Walkers’ existence possible. Because travel to the North would be complicated, nobody south of Winterfell knows anything about the true nature of winter.

Subsequently, the distance between the cities in the North, the capital in the South and the cities in Essos where Daenerys had been holed up for six seasons, ensured that those stories remained appropriately separate. While Season 7 shows that these stories are finally intersecting, it doesn’t make much sense when the White Walkers are only now a hop and a skip away from King’s Landing, if the new travel is any indication. It throws what we’ve been taught over six seasons into chaos.

Granted, the White Walkers are barred from traveling south because The Wall is infused with magic that prevents the dead from passing it — but once The Wall is breached, as it surely must be, will the overrun Westeros as quickly as Jaime went from King’s Landing to Highgarden in the third Season 7 episode?

It’s clear that the showrunners have deemed the pacing change as the best means of finishing up “Game of Thrones” in the limited time frame they’ve imposed on themselves. (By design, Season 7 has only seven episodes, and Season 8 will have only six). However, in the process the show is losing a significant part of what made it — and the books on which it is based — so fascinating.

It’s not that the slow pacing is inherently better than the opposite. But this particular tale has long been defined by, and benefitted from, a pacing that is purposefully slow. As a result, the dramatic change in pace proves to be a needless distraction just as the show is (finally) getting close to the finale we’ve been waiting for since 2011.

'Game of Thrones': Most Upsetting, Shocking and Disturbing Deaths So Far (Photos)

Spoiler Alert, obviously. Let's look back at the deaths on "Game of Thrones" that we found particularly shocking, disturbing or otherwise totally messed up. There's been a bunch of them. These are the big ones through the end of Season 7.

Just when Daenerys is beginning to get comfortable in her role as Khaleesi in season 1, Khal Drogo is rendered catatonic by a poison blade, completely sabotaging any near-term hopes of conquering Westeros.

Ned Stark's execution by newly coronated King Joffrey in season 1 established exactly what kind of story this is: one in which nobody is safe, even the characters who go on the DVD box art.

Renly Baratheon, one of the five kings vying for the throne of Westeros, was killed in season 2 by a ghost that was birthed by Melisandre and fathered by his brother Stannis. Yeah, I know.

In season 3, some members of the Night's Watch revolted against Lord Commander Jeor Mormont rule during an excursion north of the wall, killing him.

Robb Stark, Catelyn Stark and Talisa Stark were ambushed by the Freys at the Red Wedding, at the behest of the Lannisters, pretty much ending House Stark's threat to King Joffrey.

King Joffrey was poisoned at his own wedding early in season 4, dying in exactly the horribly painful way he deserved.

Littlefinger married Lysa Arryn during season 4, then shoved her out of the Moon Door at the Vale.

The Red Viper, Oberyn Martell, almost had his revenge against the Mountain, the man who raped and murdered his sister. But he didn't finish the job and instead ended up having his skull crushed in probably the most viscerally disturbing death in the whole series.

Ygritte, badass marksman and forbidden lover of Jon Snow, died in battle at Castle Black near the end of season 4.

Always sorta doomed to be Moses, Jojen Reed is slaughtered by a wight just outside the treehouse of the Children of the Forest in the far north of Westeros at the end of season 4.

Thanks to some help from Varys, Tyrion escaped execution for the murder of Joffrey (which he didn't commit) at the end of season 4. On his way out, he found Shae in his father Tywin's bed. So he murdered her, and shot Tywin with a crossbow as Tywin sat on the toilet. Fitting.

Mance Rayder refused to bow to Stannis, and he got burned alive for his stubbornness.

The aging warrior Barriston Selmy died in Mereen fighting against an uprising of the Sons of the Harpies in season 5.

Janos Slynt was a total monster for a long time, and Jon Snow taking his head was a big moment. A coming of age for the young Lord Commander. Still, it was hard to believe he'd actually do it.

Myrcella, daughter of Cersei and Jaime Lannister, was murdered in season 5 by Ellaria Sand with a delayed-action poison delivered by a kiss.

Stannis burned his daughter Shireen alive in a sacrifice intended to help him take Winterfell, in the most upsetting death on the show thus far. It didn't work, and he deservedly met his own end shortly thereafter.

In an unbelievable cliffhanger at the end of season 5, Jon Snow was murdered by his brothers in the Nights Watch. Will he return?UPDATE: LOL whoops, nevermind.

Doran Martell, ruler of Dorne, was the victim of a coup in the season 6 premiere. Ellaria Sand took his ass down.

Another victim of Ellaria Sand's coup in the season 6 premiere, Trystane Martell took a spear through the face from one of the Sand Snakes.

Roose Bolton was stabbed in the gut by his legitimized bastard Ramsay in a coup that is apparently being aided by House Karstark.

Walda Bolton and her newborn son were eaten by dogs in Ramsay's coup of House Bolton. So horrible.

Balon Greyjoy was thrown off a really high bridge by his younger brother Euron, emerging from the far east to apparently make a surprise bid for power.

Osha attempted to murder Ramsay, but he saw it coming and got her first.

Khal Moro (and all the other Khals) learned the hard way that they should probably let Daenerys do what she wants. Now they're all burned up.

Hodor was killed holding the door to the cave of the Three-Eyed Raven so Meera and Bran could escape. Sigh, Hodor.

After a lifetime of turmoil, the Hound found peace thanks to the Elder Brother and his small religious community on Quiet Isle. But then the Brotherhood Without Banners murdered the Elder Brother and all Sandor's new friends.

Arya finally took out her nemesis the Waif by forcing their final battle to take place in the dark -- something Arya has plenty of practice with thanks to her previous bout of blindness.

Rickon Stark died as some kind of twisted way of kicking off the Battle of the Bastards, because Ramsay is a horrific person.

The greatest badass who ever lived, Wun Wun certainly had his say in the Battle of the Bastards, literally ripping a man in two with his bare hands and taking down the gate of Winterfell when Ramsay retreated behind its walls. But a few dozen arrows were too much even for a giant.

Ramsay Bolton was eaten by his own dogs. Perfect.

Grand Maester Pycelle was murdered by a bunch of children at the behest of Qyburn to prevent him from interfering with Cersei's plan to blow up the Sept of Baelor.

Speaking of Cersei's plan to blow up the Sept of Baelor, she managed to kill Margaery Tyrell, Loras Tyrell, the High Sparrow (pictured having the flesh burned off his bones), Lancel Lannister, Mace Tyrell, Kevan Lannister and a whole bunch of other people, including the bulk of the Faith Militant.

Cersei tried to save her son, King Tommen Baratheon, from being blown up by having the Mountain keep him from going to the Sept. Unfortunately, after seeing the Sept blow up with his wife inside, Tommen decided to kill himself by jumping out his window in the Red Keep.

Walder Frey was served a pie that contained pieces of some of his family members (though he didn't eat it!) before it was revealed that the girl who served it to him was actually Arya Stark wearing someone else's face. And then Arya cut Lord Walder's throat.

The first major deaths of season 7 came when Euron Greyjoy's Iron Fleet assaulted Yara Greyjoy's Iron Fleet. Yara and Ellaria San were captured, Theon ran away, and two of the Sand Snakes were killed during the battle by Euron himself. RIP Obera Sand (Keisha Castle-Hughes) and Nymeria Sand (Jessica Henwick).

Cersei decided to murder Ellaria Sand's last remaining daughter, Tyene (Rosabell Laurenti Sellers), using the same poison that Ellaria used to kill Myrcella back in season 5.

Olenna Tyrell finally bit the dust when the Lannister army took the Tyrell home at Highgarden. Jaime offered Lady Olenna an easy way out: with poisoned wine. Which Olenna accepted.

Dickon and Randyll Tarly, best known for being Samwell Tarly's brother and father, were burned alive by Drogon when they refused to bend the knee to Daenerys after they were soundly defeated in that big loot train battle.

Thoros of Myr went out kinda meekly, seemingly freezing to death a while after being mauled by a zombie bear.

Viserion the dragon died when the Night King nailed him with an ice spear. Definitely one of the harshest deaths on the whole show. Adding insult to injury, Viserion was resurrected as part of the Army of the Dead.

Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish finally met his end his end at the hands of Arya Stark after and Sansa played him like a fiddle for much of season 7, finally exposing him as the cause of pretty much everything terrible that's happened in Westeros on "Game of Thrones."

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It’s a tough life in the “Game of Thrones” universe, and most folks haven’t gotten out alive

Spoiler Alert, obviously. Let's look back at the deaths on "Game of Thrones" that we found particularly shocking, disturbing or otherwise totally messed up. There's been a bunch of them. These are the big ones through the end of Season 7.